


Metal and Bone

by JulianGreystoke



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Buddies, Drabble, Fluff, Getting to know you, Prosthesis, Repair, Techie, budding friendship, friend-fic, mechanic, prosthetic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-19 22:26:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10649322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JulianGreystoke/pseuds/JulianGreystoke
Summary: No main story spoilers.  Minor spoilers for Drack as a character.Leilani Ryder is working late at her favorite hobby: tinkering.  When she goes to find a missing tool she discovers Drack repairing one of his prosthetic limbs and offers to help.This is literally just friendship drabble.  Just a scene with these two because I wanted one.  Probably taking place early in the story, though Leilani had figured out about Drack's prosthetics long before the scene in the sickbay.





	Metal and Bone

Metal and Bone

Leilani growled in frustration, her plump lips twisting as she scowled.

“Problem?”

“I don't have the right wrench, SAM.” She griped, tossing the wrench she had been trying to use onto her bed where it landed with a clatter amidst several others, all spreading grease over her blankets. She little noticed or cared as she frowned down at the drone on her floor. 'Mr Shooty' was cracked open before her. He'd been acting sluggish in the last battle and she was trying to figure out why. Naturally she never had quite the right tools. The curse of the mechanic. “Looks like I have to stop by the work shop again.” 

“This will make your third trip tonight.” Her AI companion pointed out inside her head. It was still eery that SAM's voice never reached either of her ears, yet she 'heard' him as clear as day.

“I know.”

“Perhaps if you brought the whole tool box back instead of one tool at a time.”

“Get out of here with your logic, SAM.”

“Sarcasm?”

“Mostly.” Leilani levered herself to her feet from her cross-legged position on the floor. She shook feeling back into her feet as she made her way across the room, heading for engineering. The ship was quiet, lights dimmed to create 'night' for the crew. They were orbiting Voeld and she knew that soon the planet's sun would crest the snowy world and bathe the bridge in golden light. Autopilot would slip them behind the cover of the planet once again until the crew was ready to awaken. The problem with visiting so many different worlds was that Leilani's sleep patterns were obliterated and she was always up at odd hours. This annoyed Lexi no end, but Leilani didn't worry. Her mind was always racing, always grabbing for the next thing. The next discovery or adventure. Sometimes she suspected that SAM was pumping some kind of chemical into her to keep her more wakeful on missions, but tonight her desire to be up and working was all natural.

The engine room and cargo hold were like a hollow in the earth. Or the caves deep inside the belly of Mars where the prothean ruins were secreted. She had to resist the urge to latch a rope to the railing and to swing down to the lower level as she might from a ledge. She had done it once and Liam nearly had a panic attack and took it down before anyone else could try it.

Leilani reached the messy, little room where most of the tools were kept and was half way through rummaging in a rusty toolbox before she realized she wasn't alone. She jumped, jerking so badly she jammed her hand. Wincing she massaged her tingling fingers as she turned to face the twin, yellow eyes that watched her from a wide, grinning face. “Jumpy tonight aren't you?” Drack asked.

“Sorry. I wasn't expecting-” Leilani began and cut herself off before her awkward rambling could get a foothold. She rubbed the back of her neck, knowing she left a greasy streak. She squinted at the hulking figure in the dimness, “Drack... your leg's off.”

“Why so it is.” The krogan chuckled. He was seated on a metal crate with his prosthetic leg propped across his lap. “Glad to see nothing gets by our pathfinder.”

Leilani flinched, but put on an air of bravado, raising her chin and puffing out her chest. “Truly I am an explorer beyond peer.”

“I have located the wrench you need,” SAM chimed in her head. It was unsettling to know that she could take things in using her eyes while she was using them for something else.

“SAM, sleep mode, please,” she hissed. She could have thought the order to him, but she was still not used to doing so. It felt unnatural. Drack cocked a brow at her and she looked down, embarrassed.

“Is it turned off?” The krogan asked, looking back to whatever work he was doing on his leg.

“He's never off, exactly,” Leilani sighed, picking up the wrench that SAM had indicated before she'd asked him to sleep. “He just... he lets me alone when I want to be... actually, I think he's technically still listening, but he doesn't remember. He doesn't log or save conversations I don't want him to.”

“Mmmmhmmmm,” Drack's golden eyes flicked up to meet hers again. “So it claims anyway.”

“Right,” Leilani agreed tensely. She wasn't certain if she was expected to leave now, but her natural curiosity was drawing her further into the little room. “Is... is something wrong with your leg?”

“Knee's a little stiff. Hydraulics are off again. Happens when you smash head first into enough enemies.” Drack wagged the pliers he held vaguely in her direction.

Leilani had to stifle a laugh as she recalled her giant friend's propensity for tackling creatures that she would much rather have sniped from far away... on the top of a mountain perhaps. “Can I see?” She held out her hands.

“It's heavy,” Drack warned as he passed the leg to her.

Leilani was strong, especially for a tech, but she still gasped and nearly dropped the limb as its full weight landed in her arms. She dropped to the floor, trying to make the motion look intentional. Drack was laughing so she knew she'd failed. She brushed her dark hair from her face with the heel of her hand and took in the workings of the limb. The knee joint had been opened up and it was so patched, scratched, and shoddily repaired it almost hurt to look at. She glanced up at the krogan, who fixed her with a passive gaze. “Drack, do me a favor. Let me repair your gear from now on. You're a shit mechanic.”

“That kind of diplomacy is why you're the pathfinder,” Drack snorted, but mirth shone in his eyes.

Leilani couldn't help her curiosity. She tipped the leg up to check the connecting point, where wires and filaments would meet tissue and bond with what remained of his organic leg. Her eyebrows came together a she studied, forming a crease in the center of her forehead. “I've heard your limbs use a form of VI to help them function? This looks a little... old school.”

“Not all of us can have a special robot in our heads.” Drack folded his arms and leaned back against a bulkhead with a grunt. He half closed his eyes, watching her with a subdued curiosity. “I've had some issues with it. Mostly sorted out now.”

Leilani turned back to the knee, diving in with both hands. Soon she held a wrench in her mouth and had a screw driver behind each ear. Her fingers were covered in grease and hydraulic fluid and she knew her face was a mess, but her eyes were alight with the fire of pleasure.

“Having fun?”

She jumped. For a while it seemed as though Drack had fallen asleep. “yeah,” she gave him a sheepish smile. “This... this is what I love. Well, this and exploring new places.”

“You're not kidding. I've seen you scanning rocks while the rest of us are trying to fight kett.”

“Sorry,” Leilani ducked her head, slouching between her shoulders. “I just... I see interesting things and I just have to know how they work.”

“I suppose that's something that's perfect for a pathfinder,” The krogan admitted, sitting forward again. “How's it going?”

“You had a leak.” Leilani explained, tilting the prosthetic so he could see. “That's why the joint kept stiffening on you. You'd refill the reservoir and it'd just leak out slow.”

“Hmmph. Figured it was something like that. You and your clever, little, human hands are better equipped to dig around in there.”

“I think I have it patched, and I tweaked a few bearings for you too.” She huffed embarrassingly as she struggled to pass his limb back. “Can I help?” She asked as he moved to put it on.

Drack shrugged shifting the leg into position. “Support the foot, but get clear when I attach the thing. Sometimes it misfires.”

Leilani nervously squatted and helped as instructed, then bounced clear as the socket fitted together with a firm 'click'. Drack snarled, lip curling back in pain as he punched the nearest bulkhead. Leilani jumped for the third time that night and she was beginning to wish she wasn't so easily spooked, at least in front of fearless Drack. She clenched her fists and stood stiffly as the krogan growled twice more, then settled. He met her eyes again, firm, fierce. Eyes like her father's when he looked out on a new planet. “Alright?” she asked tightly.

“Yeah,” he waved her off. “Stings a little when it reconnects.”

Leilani thought 'stings' may have been an understatement, but she didn't press it. Drack thought she didn't see it. Didn't notice how stiffly he moved at times. The tiny gestures of pain. How he avoided stairs when he could, or sat down during long conversations, even on alien planets. He played it off as cockiness, but Leilani knew better. This she also kept to herself because she knew Drack didn't want her to see it. As long as he could keep doing his job, as long as he found value in his days, then who was she to judge how he chose to live them?

“Did it hurt when they put that thing in your head?” Drack gestured at her. She was crouching again, picking up scattered tools. She was a messy worker.

“I don't remember much about it.” She shrugged. I was out for most of the joining, but I suspect it would have. It sure didn't feel great when I did wake up. It took a while to get used to SAM being in my head.”

“I'm not surprised. My implants might use a form of VI, but they don't talk to me.” Drack laughed, rocking back again. “Well, at least not in the same way yours do. Mine just stop working properly when they're upset with me.” He raised his leg and flexed his freshly repaired knee. “Damn. Now it's better than the real one.”

“Sorry,” Leilani grinned, tucking the last of the tools into the metal box and kicking it under a shelf. Nothing had a proper place here. It was probably a good thing Kallo never came this deep into the ship's underbelly.

“Thanks, Ryder,” Drack gave her a nod.

“You're welcome,” she smiled thinly, picking up the wrench she had come for. “Just let me fix up your prosthetics from now on, alright? No more patch jobs. Me and my little, human hands will do it right.”

“Yes Pathfinder,” he saluted sarcastically, but she guessed she'd made an impression with her work that night. Drack was willing enough to follow orders, but she was never certain how he felt about her as a person. Perhaps now he had something to go on. Something unexpected.

“Night, Drack.”

“See you, Pathfinder.”

“Leilani!” she called over her shoulder as she headed out of the room. She didn't expect an answer, but the aged krogan surprised her again.

“See you, Leilani.”

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out if you like Ryder and Drack as friends!
> 
> Want more ME fic? Check out more from my page!


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